The project examines the aims of Chinese and European tort law. Knowledge of the tasks of tort law is essential for a deeper understanding of this area of law and therefore a prerequisite in particular for the teleological interpretation of provisions, for filling gaps by analogy and for drawing the borderline to the neighbouring areas of tort law as well as for the interplay of different legal instruments. Additionally the comparative lawyer requires this knowledge in order to discover which provisions are comparable.

The Conference on the topic of ‘The Aims of Tort Law’, which took place on 16th and 17th October 2015 in Vienna, was jointly organised by the Sino-European Private Law Forum, the Institute for European Tort Law (ETL) and the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law (ECTIL). At the start of the Conference, Helmut KOZIOL (Vienna/Graz) presented an introduction into issues the project is dealing with. This was followed by five topics which will each be analysed by a Chinese and a European presenter. The speakers were CAO Xianfeng (Jilin), CUI Jianyuan (Beijing), GUO Mingrui (Yantai), WANG Cheng (Peking) and ZHANG Pinghua (Yantai) as well as Michael FAURE (Maastricht/Rotterdam), Monika HINTEREGGER (Graz), Ernst KARNER (Wien), Ken OLIPHANT (Bristol) und Alessandro SCARSO (Milan). The Conference provided ample opportunity for discussion and debate.